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Joseph Page II writes book, 'New Mexico Space Trail'

Alamogordo Daily NewsBy Janessa Maxilom, Staff Writer

Posted:
01/01/2013 10:12:15 PM MST

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Major Joseph Page II, standing in front of the New Mexico Space Trail map at the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Page was explaining the sites he had visited and seen while writing a book for the museum about the space trail. The book will be released on May 6.

For Major Joseph Page II, a missileer of the United States Air Force, passing on the knowledge and rich heritage of New Mexico's contribution to space exploration was a labor of love.

Page recently volunteered with the New Mexico Museum of Space History to help them write an up-and-coming book called the, 'New Mexico Space Trail.' The book was written to emphasize the critical role New Mexico has played in space exploration.

Every year, the NMMSH honors a volunteer for outstanding work by presenting a Community Service Award.

This year, that award went to Page, for his effort in getting the Space Trail book written and published.

"I have a love of history and I did this for the love of history," Page said.

The book will be published on May 6 and will be sold at the NMMSH as well as other locations on the New Mexico Space Trail.

The New Mexico Space Trail is a project the museum staff members have been working on for over a decade. It identifies 52 sites across the state related to space research, exploration and development, from archaeoastronomy sites to Spaceport America.

Page visited a number of the sites while he was writing the book. He also contacted people located at the sites to gather information and photos for the book.

"I noticed on the map they (NMMSH staff) gave me that a lot of the sights were off limits," Page said. "They were either military reservations or they were educational places like New Mexico Tech or NMSU.

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Page said he worked on the Space Trail book for three months. He said he put in a total of 500 hours of personal time to write the book and gather information.

He said the hardest part about writing the book was sacrificing time with his family, but added he did his best to work on the book in the evening when his five kids were asleep.

Writing the book and gathering information was not a new situation for Page.

He is the author of the 'Holloman Air Force Base' book, which was written to record the unique history of the base.

Page said he wrote the Holloman book because he thought the base had a lot of interesting history to write about. He said he was shocked that someone had not already written a book about the base.

He said his Holloman book is a great sidekick to the 'White Sands Missile Range' book written by White Sands Missile Range Museum Director Darren Court.

"When I came to Holloman, I was excited about the area because I already knew a little bit about the history of the area," he said. "I requested Holloman as a base to be stationed at because I grew up in Las Cruces."

Page grew up in Las Cruces because his father, who was also in the U.S. Air Force, worked at White Sands Missile Range. Page's father opted to retire at WSMR.

"My dad's first assignment was also our last assignment," he said.

Page said one of the main reasons that he became interested in joining the Air Force and working with missiles and rocketry was because of his father, who worked on satellites during his time in the military.

He said that he and his father are both unable to talk about the details of their work in the military with each other, so writing the books gave Page and his father something they could talk about together.

"When I was writing the Holloman book, I received a lot of help from the staff at the museum," Page said. "So I wanted to give something back and when I talked with George House, the curator, he told me about the Space Trail and I thought it was a great project."

For more information about the New Mexico Space Trail visit: www.nmspacemuseum.orgContact Janessa Maxilom at jmaxilom@alamogordonews.com Follow her on Twitter @janessa_speaks